This invention relates generally to the field of transportation and more specifically to a system for automatic formation flight control of vehicles not limited to commercial or military aircraft, helicopters, or space platforms.
Formation flight has always been the cornerstone of both precision flight and mission execution. Presenting one radar image, size or surprise has always been a key to military success. As the regimes of speed have increased, the requirement for a more positive control of these kinds of formations has been a request by planners for various missions and by the pilots as well. Technology has now progressed to a point where the integration of various functions can be accomplished without significant hardware and computing power allows for software to execute the required controls to include position, clearance and flight planning more efficiently and quickly than under manual control. The removal of error in the global positioning satellite constellation and the significant lack of this error in military operations now opens the door for this kind of a totally integrated system.
The existence of autopilots and voice communications have been utilized for this type of a military requirement for many years. Weather, turbulence and speed have contributed to accidents with deaths even under the best of circumstances. A new era of formation flight is upon us.
Delays inherent in voice communications coupled with reaction times have prevented a precise execution of formation flight up to this point in time. With the advent of high-speed data communications, man/machine interface improvements and positive flight control capabilities, it is time for the next step with a totally integrated automatic flight formation control system.